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I am very impressed with the design and attention to detail. This phone stands out as something special. And hopefully it is the first of many great devices from the OnePlus team. There really is no reason to deliberate over buying a Samsung Galaxy S5 or HTC One or Sony Z2 any more. This is the the one.Reply

The US is not the whole world. Verizon is only one of many carriers out there. Pretty much the OnePlus One works on most of the carriers around the world. You can blame Verizon for not being compatible with standards instead of the other way around.Reply

There are still many reasons to consider the S5 and Z2, I'd pay more for the S5 to get a replaceable battery and micro SD slot or more for the Z2 to get the better camera, weather sealing and micro SD slot. A cheap phone that doesn't do what I need isn't worth saving the money for.

The Nexus 5 is also much cheaper than other flagship devices despite its top end spec but it hasn't destroyed Sony or Samsung's market either.Reply

That is true, people are irrational. This is why there is so many marketing dollars flying around.

Also, do you need an SD card with 64 GB? Most people don't.

These are killer specs for a killer price. Paying 300 extra dollars for a better camera makes no sense, most people just do selfies anyway. (HTC estimates that selfies take up 90% of all photos in some markets).

At long last, we are entering the era of competitive pricing for high end smartphones.Reply

Even worse, I listened for a half hour while these morons on a radio show talked about how poor the cameras were on modern smart phones until one of them realized that the front camera was lower resolution than the rear one. Then they suggested the better camera should be front facing so they could take better selfies. I guess if the statistic is true, maybe they should!Reply

If I am going to spend $300+ in a phone, of course I want the better camera, and a micro-sd, and the water resistance. If I am simply gonna make selfies and look at Facebook, I do not need an S5, a Z2, a M8, a OnePlusOne or a Nexus. I will get the cheapest shit my carrier is offering.

It seems you people are blinded by aluminum and unibody designs. Jesus, there is so much more than looks.Reply

While we currently don't have raw comparisons between cameras of various smartphones, but a cursory look at OnePlus One's(henceforth known as 'OPO') camera suggests that the difference is very small.

Secondly, while most people just do selfies with their camera, that doesn't mean that that is all they do. Specs matter. And the OPO beats just about every phone on a price/performance index.

The point is that there is no need to spend 250 dollars *extra* on just the camera if you get the 64 GB version. I personally don't use more than 16 GB on my phone(my tablet is a different story) so the saving would be 300 dollars. And not least because the camera in the OPO isn't likely to be radically worse and could even end up being on par with the one in S5.

A lot of people are just defensive because they bought needlessly expensive stuff and are now scarmbling to rationalize it. They just have to face the fact that if you're paying more than 300-350 dollars for a top-shelf smartphone, you're not doing it right. Reply

I agree that 600 dollars for a phone is too much. But that is how it goes, and sadly there are no top smartphones in the 350 range. Although they are good smartphones, specially the Nexus 5, they lack some very important features, like microsd card, water resistance, ac wifi, etc.

So, unfortunately, paying 600 dollars is still the only option sometimes.Reply

Not like any of the $600+ phones can be all things to all people either, Qi wireless charging has become a must have for me after getting a couple charging pads (upright Nokia for office, Google magnetized for bedroom, small LG puck for living room)... It's just do darn convenient once you get used to it specially since my N7 supports it too.Reply

lol!Do you really want a better camera!? Can you really tell the difference between 13MP, 16MP, 20MP or 1millionMP!? And I do not mean analyzing the photo samples with magnifying glass. So you don't want a better camera - your e-penis does.So you say you want a micro-sd? hmm! Because 64GB of quicker internal storage and access to unlimited cloud storage, for the things you don't need constantly on your fingertips, through an extremely fast LTE, is something you cannot live with. Personally, I never ran out of storage on my N4 and N5 and I always have 3-8GB of nandroids. But I understand some of you folks like to have 7-day supply of music on your phones.As far as water resistance goes, I can see the value in there but it's not worth the extra bulk when we have already reached the edge of what can comfortably fit in the hand of the average Joe. As a matter of fact I would argue that impact durability is more important than water and dust resistance. Hence the unibody aluminum design might actually have some merit beyond the looks.Anyways, enjoy spending $300 more on an inferior spec'd device, but for many of us responsiveness and lack of marketing bloat are more important than unnoticeably better camera, unneeded micro-SD of the past, and not having $300 to spent on something we might use .Reply

not really irrational, most people just up their contract every two years and pay 199 at most for their $650 samsung or apple phone. or get last years flagship like the sgs4, for 99 or free, if they're more budget conscious.

in this respect, asking people to pay $350 for a nexus 5 is actually a price increase. most people also go to the local phone store to get their phone.

you can save money off contract, but there's always tradeoffs as well ( in many cases worse network, worse network speeds, etc). and you may, depending, pay enough more for unsubbed phone to erase the savings.

it also limits your options, being on an att contract, i have my choice of any phone, the latest and greatest from HTC, Sammy, Sony, LG, etc, for 199 when my upgrade is due. off contract, i pretty much have one flagship choice, the nexus 5, and the nexus 5 only (not counting this new oneplus thing, which jury's still out on the quality of imo)

Software wise - CM11 is simply too buggy and unstable (even their "stable" versions) to be sold to mainstream.Display is meh, camera's meh, no SD card slot (yes yes 64gb of nand is good - but if the price is anything to go by its going to be crap nand) no replaceable battery.

Just like the Nexus line. You get what you pay for. And since in this case one's paying very little - its safe to assume that even though "at this price its an amazing device" but this statement would only hold at THIS price.

“Software wise - CM11 is simply too buggy and unstable (even their "stable" versions) to be sold to mainstream.”

Should I remind you that CM11 on other devices is unofficial build but this one is? And I personally used CM11 for a week on my m7 and I didn't find it "buggy" as you said.

"Display is meh, camera's meh, no SD card slot (yes yes 64gb of nand is good - but if the price is anything to go by its going to be crap nand) no replaceable battery."

I don't see any real inferiority from this device's display and camera compared to those of S5. SD card also becomes much more useless when it comes to Android 4.4. Anyone I know who uses a Galaxy has never replaced the phone's battery. When the phone's running out of battery they simply take out their power banks. Compared to unibody design, replaceable battery isn't that worth.Reply

But I was surprised that no mention of 1700 AWS in the frequency section which is T-Mobile's common frequency.<quote>Connectivity GSM: 850, 900, 1800, 1900MHz </quote>Luckily WCDMA band 4 and LTE Band 4 denotes AWS frequency<quote>WCDMA: Bands: 1/2/4/5/8LTE: Bands: 1/3/4/7/17/38/40</quote>Reply

The most important chart is the one showing worldwide prices. For once Europeans get to pay for chinese-made products as much money as Americans do. Not like Apple which applies a $200-300 markup depending on the product.Reply

Some of the specifications and comments in this article are puzzling to me. Someone says it doesn't have an IPS display, which the article suggests, but Tom's Hardware says it does.

Also, the USB 3 capability is only relevant if the internal flash and buses are fast enough to make the extra speed beneficial, and the connector can cope. Especially relevant if OTG is supported (which we also aren't told). I'm initially reminded of all the current SOCs which have 'fast' external interfaces like SATA and 100mbit Ethernet that are internally bottlenecked by slow data paths to the CPU/memory like, typically, USB 2. Seeing a USB 2 connector only worries me more - admittedly I don't use USB 3 on any small devices but surely that extra USB 3 speed was partly the result of specifying better connectors. More info needed.

And if it really wants to compete with the best, and for my money, then it really needs wireless charging. No mention of that (as present or absent) either.

A/T says it has BT 4.0, Tom's says 4.1.

Water resistance is not mentioned here, but Tom's shows a (marketing) video including a snippet of it being held under a tap.

Further, I'd have thought the Oppo N1 would be a more relevant point of comparison. Firstly it's also officially Cyanogen (the only other one?). It's also attractively priced, Chinese, and actually does differentiate (rotating camera, rear touchpad, bigger screen). It's certainly the OP One's main rival for my cash. Not some virtually identical but less sexy model.

I'd have thought that the point of the bottom edge speakers would be to direct audio out of the phone, as opposed to directly onto a smothered desk, using the maximum 'cone' to air surface area. Stereo separation is never going to be relevant on a phone, that's what headphones are for. Having had so many phones with crap downward facing speakers this is actually one of my favourite One features.

All in all I'm disappointed with the the coverage here (that doesn't happen often) and nonplussed as to why, after all the hype leading to the big release of the details today, there still seems to be so many basic questions remaining unanswered or answered inconsistently or incompletely. Or am I simply too drunk. (<-- rhetorical, and it could also be euphoric).

And to those who say SD support isnt necessary on a 64gb device I observe this: I have had many smartphones over the years. Most ended up destroyed, often involving water. Of those, I have had a 100% data recovery rate from those with SD cards (I just took the card out and it worked) and 0% from those without. It is not just about storage capacity. And don't lecture me about backups- you don't either.

Lastly is anyone else wondering to what extent OnePlus really is a different company to Oppo, from whom their management is apparently derived and who is actually manufacturing the OnePlus One (oooooh that abbreviates so closely to OPPO 😉), a device so similar - as the piece notes - to one of their own. Or is it just me who's cynical enough to wonder if it's just another part of the extreme marketing (rebrand to sexier, less Chinese sounding name) to sell basically an existing, though physically sexed up, device? If it isn't, whoever writes VP's employment contracts at Oppo needs a good hard kick for forgetting the IP protection bit.

PS - OnePlus, this took me a whole evening to type on a crappy mobile device. I wasnt even drunk when I started. You owe me a $1 phone. Unless the last para hit the mark, in which case I expect the boys round tomorrow and have already checked that my medical insurance is up to date.Reply

Pretty major typo, and yes...that's the impression I got. On paper this is seemingly the phone I want, but the marketing has been so over-egged that there's no way I will stump up cash until I see actual reviews.Reply

As a punter, I'd rather have accurate and complete (as far as possible) information an hour later, than wrong and/or iffy and/or incomplete information an hour earlier. Come on mate - if we can't rely on a site of your gravitas to give us the accurate skinny on a new development, then where do we get it?

And if you know you're not getting the full monty for your article then why not say so up front rather than waiting to be nitpicked on it?Reply

And by the way, I think you should admit, and learn from, your mistakes rather than trying to cover them. You have an intelligent (if sometimes drunk) readership, who understands that the odds of typo-ing 'USB 2.0' to 'USB 3.0' are rather small.Reply

Get a proper keyboard then? Come on mate, that was an extremely unlikely typo but far more likely (and understandable) misreporting of an eagerly anticipated technological advance in consumer devices, which ARM development boards, eg. Odroid, have had for some time.Reply

No, I was always sure that the OnePlus One had microUSB 2.0 only, I didn't realize that I made a mistake until I woke up the next morning to read the comments. I will be sure to avoid such errors in the future.Reply

Please OnePlus don't make world hell. Give as a micro sd card option..The HTC M8 looks awesome but the camera sucks. You got it almost there.. just give us the micro sd card slot.64GB it is not enough, for people like me that are always on the road and wants to carry their music, videos, movies with it. Don't tell me about the cloud as travelling from country to country in Europe you are lucky if you get some "paid" wi-fi spot.

And if you can't give us the micro sd slot please give us a mature explanation why not.

It was going to be almost "one" of the happiest days of my life.. If it just would have a micro sd card slot.Reply

I would of liked to see wireless AC support, USB 3.0 with quick charge support, 128GB micro sdxc support and optical image stabilization with xenon flash and especially a larger camera sensor

The camera is a point of contention for me. The size of the sensor is the most important aspect of a high quality camera. The 1/3.06" sensor leaves some size to be desired at least the size of the lumia 1520's 1/2.5" sensor or better yet the lumia 1020's 1/1.5" sensor or BEST yet the largest sensor ever put into a phone the pureview 808's 1/1.2" sensor.

Super high megapixels sounds great but you sacrifice low light performance for better brightly lit photos. HTC had a good idea with the ultra pixels but they lowered the megapixels too far instead of making the sensor larger. They used a 1/3" sensor (same size as the oneplus).

This phone could of transcended all phones if they only included a 1/1" (or 1 inch) sensor size slightly bigger than the pureview 808 and largest phone sensor ever and instead of cramming tons of megapixels made the pixels mega ultra pixels by going even larger than htc's 2.0um and made them 2.5um light gobbling pixels. They could of had a 11MP 1/1" (or 1 inch) sensor with 2.5um double ultra pixels.

Lower light photos are what is truly important on a camera phone. When you are out with your friends at a restaurant or bar or many indoor locations the ability of low light capture is what decides if your photos are good and not the megapixel count. A 1 inch sensor and 2.5um pixels + a good optical image stabilization system would create the highest clarity best looking low light shots of any phone even the fabled lumia 1020 and pureview 808. And since the sensor is big enough to allow that large of pixels and still have an 11MP resolution when you do have to take those (not as frequent) sunny brightly lit shots you don't take a large downgrade in clarity compared to most phones brightly lit performance like what happened htc's 4MP ultra pixels. The other phones with 13MP, 20MP and even higher counts will perform the best in the sunny outdoors but many of us barely take photos in that situation (i'm usually sleeping during the day)

I don't really care about the few other missing features i mentioned but if the oneplus one would of released with a 1 inch camera cmos sensor with a lower 10-11 megapixel count and larger 2.5um sized "ultra" pixels and a nokia lumia 920 grade optical image stabilization system with a xenon flash in addition to the LED lights. It could of been a photographers dream phone. Sure there would of been a big bump on the back to fit the large sensor and xenon flash power delivery. But it would of been worth the bump when you had the best photos available from ANY phone. I would even have paid an additional 200 dollars so 550 dollars for 64GB if they would of added the more advanced and more expensive camera system.

I think another 200 sounds right for a sensor 3 times as large 1 inch vs 0.333 inch and the larger 6 element lens system that it would require, OIS system vs no OIS system, and the added xenon flash while keeping the LED lights as well.

They could even fork this version of the oneplus one as a different model so people that don't care about photography as much can just get this one cheap for 350. While the people that love the oneplus one but also want the best camera experience to EVER be in a phone can pay 550 which would still be one hell of a bargain for a top specced phone with the best camera ever to appear on a phone.Reply

And if possible if we are going to fit a 1 inch sensor in there maybe it is even possible to fit a 4/3" sensor which is a very common compact digital camera sensor with many varied and extremely mature lens setups. Then the sensor would be 4x larger and could step up to 3.0um ultra pixels or just add more to make its brightly lit pictures equal to the best out there without sacrificing the low light. I'd probably rather have the even larger pixels.Reply

In my opinion KitKat rendered my microSD card useless because I can't make changes to my files using apps like Quickpic and Poweramp any more. I think the inbuilt 64GB will get me and lots of other people away from their microSDs...Reply

This looks like a really sweet phone. I like the curved back with a flat in the middle. My HTC One acts like a rocking chair on a table which is kind of annoying but it looks like this One wouldn't do that. The premium finishes available and planned are quite compelling and the Cyanogenmod OS is interesting as well. Having a capacitive menu button and no multitasking button however is an absolute deal breaker. Android has been moving away from the menu button since the introduction of the Action Bar in Honeycomb for gods sake. Absolutely NOBODY should be releasing a KitKat phone with a menu button. I read elsewhere that this phone would offer the choice of using the capacitive buttons or on-screen buttons. If that's true, and the on-screen buttons follow the modern convention (back, home, task-switcher) than I would still consider this phone but otherwise no way.Reply

I hope the company can continue to do great work but a part of me is worried about the market. Samsung marketing budget with their massive sales commissions has pushed any luxury phones out of the Android space in spite of design.

Otherwise the Android phone space is only differentiated by price. It has become what the PC space became in the 90s, large companies that need massive infrastructures to leverage buying power and efficient supply chains. I thought Lenovo would buy HTC but now with Motorola instead HTC has almost no chance to survive. Unless another company with the money to burn is willing to enter the phone market I don't see how these smaller competitors can do anything long term. I doubt ASUS wants or needs the brand nor do I think anyone but Dell or HP could actually succeed but there is little evidence they even want to get into phones seriously anymore.

Smartphone sales ex. Samsung an Apple is a commodified low-margin business. The nature of PC construction allowed niche boutique builders on a small scale so perhaps this type of phone CAN succeed but I'm doubtful.

The best hope would be to become the Vizio of phones. An extremely small company that has a small team of designers that outsources everything to China and subsists on razor thin margins.Reply

The killer design feature for me in my Nexus 5 is the aabsolutely spectacular hand control allowed by the slightly cambered edges that make holding it so easy. The few degrees off of a right angle make gripping it a true joy.

Otherwise highest end specs don't matter for me nor do I need it took look more than good.Reply

Although I'm impressed with the specs of this phone & the PRICE... ★★ I'm VERY DISAPPOINTED that it WON'T WORK ON VERIZON!!!!"&" ★★ that the battery is NOT REMOVABLE!!((** Does it have any water resistant qualities like the galaxy s5?? ** ))Reply